Aramco shutters Jeddah refinery
Saudi Arabia 
KHOBAR, November 20, 2017 – Saudi Aramco has decided to turn its crude refinery in Jeddah into an oil products distribution hub, international media reported on Sunday.
“The decision to convert the complex to a hub for oil products distribution comes as the company is keen to boost the performance of its facilities,” Reuters cited Aramco as saying.
The 80,000-bpd facility has been on stream since 1967 but now finds itself near Jeddah’s city centre due to urban growth and there has been speculation about its impending closure for years.
“The timing of the shutdown places little risk given that Saudi demand for gasoline in the first half of 2017 only modestly recovered whilst diesel consumption levels declined on the year before,” Mustafa Ansari, an energy expert at APICORP, told Reuters.
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